Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Moanin' Ronin

Let's suppose you built a cool new metasearch engine that refines Google search results. Now let's assume you explain to Google what you're doing *before* you have millions of users using and enjoying your system. And finally, let's assume Google bans you from freely accessing their search API in order to prevent a technologically adept, nascent competitor from reaching escape velocity.

We who make our living off of the two titans of search - Google & Yahoo - need to build our businesses in such a way as to stay in their good graces, at least until there's a better spread of search marketshare than exists today and for the foreseeable future.